Afterthought
by pretty in orange
Summary: Team Taka has disbanded, yet Suigetsu refuses to leave her all alone. Suika, and T for language.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I've explored this concept minimally in my one-shot collection, "The Coexistence of Lilac and Magenta", but I wanted to keep going with this idea, so here we are. I hope you enjoy it. Dedicated to my good friend on here, NeilHighwind! To breathing new life into old characters, right?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or its characters and I make no profit from this.

* * *

><p>Karin looked so hurt, standing there, watching Juugo go one way and Sasuke another. After nearly two years, their little team was officially disbanding.<p>

Juugo was almost able to control himself, but he had found a nice place to live alone where he was on the safe side and wouldn't hurt anyone.

Sasuke was going back to Konoha, either for redemption or to be put away for good. No one really knew what he was doing anymore, and oddly, it seemed no one cared.

Suigetsu wanted desperately to go back to the mist village, but strangely, he stood there with Karin, who was just watching the others depart with her eyebrows drawn in and her hands hooked together in front of her. Now that it was over, she had nowhere to go. And for some reason, Suigetsu couldn't just leave her there.

"Karin?" Suigetsu sighed, watching for any response. It seemed that the snappy girl he had known for so long was broken, because she just turned to him, her expression sobered, and didn't say anything.

Karin looked away, waiting for an insult, waiting for all the tough talk Suigetsu shot at her, even though she hadn't started it. But since she hadn't started it, there was none.

"Karin." Suigetsu huffed a sigh and picked her up. "Come on, we're getting out of here."

Karin didn't kick or shove at him, though she did manage a dirty look to shoot at him. Even if it was a watered down version of her everyday-for-nearly-two-years-glare-of-death, it was something.

"Come on, call me snaggletooth." Suigetsu pressed as he walked. "Say I'm a good for nothing lazy ass. Call me an idiot."

At this point, Karin looked annoyed, and Suigetsu was hoping to get the real Karin back. The one who slammed doors into him and kicked him in the face when she got mad. The one who he could argue with for hours on end.

"Say that if I don't put you down, you're going to beat me into oblivion." Suigetsu kept going for a good ten minutes before he was interrupted.

Surprisingly, Karin didn't say anything. Instead, she pinched his nose shut with one hand and held his lips together with the other.

Suigetsu got the hint. Traveling was to be done in silence for the moment.

* * *

><p>AN: Short first chapter, I know. What did you think though? And I don't know when this will be updated, I'm going to try my best to do it once a week, but we'll see.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I needed to write something and my original... is not going well at all. In fact I would enjoy printing it off just to light it on fire and watch it burn at the moment. I am quickly learning that although I can manage on a good day, third person is not my forte. Thank you to all my readers and reviewers, you guys and girls keep me writing on my darkest days.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of its characters. I make no profit from this.

* * *

><p>"Karin? Karin!" Suigetsu shook the redheaded girl gently. Suigetsu – usually the heaviest sleeper – had awoken to his traveling companion whimpering in her sleep. While he didn't consider them close friends, he had shared a tent with her for a little less than two years, and he knew Karin never had nightmares. Not once in all the time they had slept within inches of each other had she ever done this.<p>

Karin shot up, and fumbled for her glasses. Suigetsu had a small lantern that was providing light, since it was likely sometime around midnight.

Suigetsu sighed and slipped Karin's glasses onto her face. "What were you dreaming about?" He was trying his hardest to be friendly, but it still came out as annoyed. Old habits do die hard...

"Nothing important." Karin shot back, adjusting her glasses. After two days she had regained some of her spunk, especially if she was surprised in some way, but her usual hourly insults had been toned down to around twice in a day, and that was when he was _trying_ to make her mad.

"Hey." Suigetsu set the lantern down and leaned in close to her. "I'm trying to be nice. You could at least tell me what's wrong, four eyes."

No one moved for a slow two seconds. And then Suigetsu was pinning Karin down, and Karin was blushing enough for it to be easily visible even in the dim light.

"Tell me." Suigetsu whispered, his voice soft for once.

Karin, however, seemed incapacitated by this new action. Her blush was darkening in the now flickering light, and Suigetsu was wondering exactly what he had done by pinning her like this.

"You plan to ditch me somewhere en route to the mist village, don't you?" Karin asked, obviously trying to sound matter of fact. But her voice was trembling along with her bottom lip.

"Hey, have a little faith in me." Suigetsu muttered, moving away from her to lie back inside his sleeping bag and take a sip from his water bottle. "You're with me. Now go back to sleep, we have a lot of traveling to do in the morning." He took one last look at her and flicked the lantern off when he was sure she had settled down enough.

Even when Karin's breathing became slow and even, indicating she had fallen back to sleep, Suigetsu lay there without sleeping. Leaving their group, the very group that had become like a family, was changing both of them. Karin was becoming softer, much more bearable though she could still gnash her metaphorical teeth if the need arose. Suigetsu wasn't exactly sure how he was changing, other than the fact that he wasn't as worried about her knowing that he cared.

Just as they had once adjusted to being in a group of four people, they were both now adjusting to being alone with each other... and it showed.

* * *

><p>AN: A bit of a longer chapter, and I was going to just keep going but I decided to save that for the next add. I have a bit of a plan for the next chapter now; so when I get a free moment it shouldn't take me long to have that ready. What'd you think?


End file.
